Hard water contains minerals such as calcium and manganese that cause scaling and soap scum. It is important to soften hard water in your home to protect your plumbing and appliances from mineral buildup. Soft water will also reduce the amount of soap used in your home. During the traditional softening process, sodium is released into your home’s water supply, but how much sodium are you really drinking? Take a look at the numbers:

How Much Sodium is Safe to Consume?
According to the American Heart Association, the maximum recommended amount of sodium for adults is no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day, and an ideal limit for most adults is no more than 1,500 mg per day. More than 75 percent of the sodium Americans eat comes from some processed, prepackaged and restaurant foods. On average, Americans eat more than 3,400 milligrams of sodium each day because of this. Check out the example of the possible daily sodium intake of an adult. Now let's take a look at the amount of sodium is actually released into your home's water supply when you use a water softener.

How Much Sodium is in Your Water?
When you soften your water using a water treatment system, this process typically requires sodium to be released into your water. However, the amount of sodium released will vary in each household. The amount of sodium in your water is directly related to your total water hardness. According to the WQA (Water Quality Association), for every grain of hardness there will be 30mg of sodium in a gallon after it has been softened.

To put your intake into perspective, adults drink an average of 1 quart of water per day. According to the most recent water quality report supplied by the City of Osage Beach, the water hardness levels range from around 297-337 mg/L. That is roughly 10-15 grains of hardness per gallon. The sodium levels released in a gallon of water for this level of harness is 298-448 mg per gallon, and 74-112 mg per quart. Now think about the amount of sodium you take in daily that comes from the foods you eat. The sodium released in your drinking water is SIGNIFICANTLY less!

The Benefits are Worth It!
If drinking softened water is not desired, you can always have your kitchen cold water tap taken off of the water softener, or have the sodium removed using a device such as a reverse osmosis or distiller. The bottom line is that using a water softener for your household water supply offers benefits for your appliances and plumbing that far outweigh the very minimal sodium being released.

Now that you're able to see how much sodium is actually added to your diet with a water softener, you can feel more confident in your choice to purchase a Lindyspring System. If you have any other questions pertaining to water treatment at the Lake of the Ozarks or are interested in scheduling a time for us to come out to your home to determine which system would best fit your needs, contact Lindyspring Systems today!

For All Your Household Water Conditioning and Treatment Needs Count on LINDYSPRING!

You use your home's water source every day, but do you know what's in your water? Contaminants such as iron, manganese, hardness minerals, or acidic water can damage your plumbing and appliances. Not only that, but some contaminants can even be harmful to your health! So how can you tell if you have water issues with your home's water supply? Ask yourself these questions:

What Does it Smell Like?

• If your water has an earthy or musty odor, this could be an indication of Iron bacteria.
• If it smells like a fish tank, your water is possibly contaminated with Barium, Cadmium, or Chloramines
• If you've got the wet dog smell, there is likely bacteria or metal in your plumbing pipes.
• Rotten egg smell indicates Hydrogen Sulfide contamination.

What Does it Taste Like?

• If your tap water tastes like a swimming pool, you could have high levels of Chlorine in your water supply.
• Sweet tasting water indicates high Iron or Calcium levels.
• If your water tastes like metal, you probably have an Iron or Manganese problem.
• A medicinal or bitter taste could be caused from Copper.

Does it Look...

• Orange colored water is an indication of corrosion or excess Iron.
• Cloudy water means you have high turbidity or air bubbles in your supply.
• Blue/green water means there could be Copper or Algae in your water.

If You Have Hard Water...
Many people who bathe with hard water notice dry skin and even hard or bumpy patches. The minerals that are present in hard water means that the cleansing products used while showering don’t completely rinse from your body. You could be experiencing soap scum buildup, dry skin and hair, faded laundry and spotty dishes. Hard water also causes scale buildup which causes appliances to wear out faster. Minerals in hard water can also affect the texture and appearance of food. Keep in mind, if you don’t like the flavor or odor of your tap water, it could be making its way into your food, too. When you cook dry food like rice, noodles, and beans, it may be absorbing that same flavor. The same goes for boiling or blanching your vegetables.

Invisible Water Problems:
Some water problems are undetectable by human senses and may be a serious contamination issue. Some of these common and hazardous issues are:

• Lead
• Arsenic
• Nitrates
• Chromium

Water problems can be a real mystery. Let one of our specialists check things out for you with a free, in-home water analysis. Contact us today to have a water treatment professional come out to test your water supply. Whatever your water problem is, we've got a treatment system to solve even the toughest of water problems!

For All Your Household Water Conditioning and Treatment Needs Count on LINDYSPRING!

For anyone who's ever dealt with the annoyances of hard water, you've probably weighed the pros and cons of getting a water softener. But without seeing the science behind what a water softener can actually do to save you money and save your appliances, you may have just opted to "deal with it" rather than buying a softener. But what if you could actually see the real benefits of installing a water softener and how much more efficiently your appliances would work? Seeing sometimes really is believing. So, this week, we're sharing with you a study done on energy and detergent savings when comparing softened and unsoftened water supplies being used. Take a look:

The Energy Savings Study
This study tested devices fed with softened and unsoftened water under controlled laboratory conditions designed to accelerate the waterside scaling in the device and quantify the performance efficiency. The project specifically focused on efficiency improvements in household water heaters from use of softened water, and the subsequent effect on performance of fixtures, such as low-flow showerheads and faucets, and appliances, such as laundry washers and dishwashers. For this study, Battelle tested 30 water heaters supplied by WQA over a 90-day period using a Battelle-developed and WQA-approved test protocol. Battelle simultaneously studied the effect of water hardness on
performance of faucets, low-flow showerheads, dishwashers, and laundry washers. Using the empirical data generated from the water heater testing and the effect on performance of fixtures and appliances, Battelle developed a differential carbon footprint assessment for homes using unsoftened water vs. softened water.

Conclusions
For gas storage and instantaneous water heaters, the use of a water softener to eliminate or minimize the scale forming compounds in water resulted in the efficiency of the water heater remaining constant over the life of the unit. In contrast, gas storage and instantaneous water heaters using unsoftened water had a noticeable decrease in efficiency over the testing period resulting in higher natural gas use. This natural gas savings associated with the use of softened water lead to direct energy and economic savings. In addition, because of the need to have the instantaneous water heater delimed or cleaned periodically, the economic savings lead to recovery of the cost of a water softener and operating supplies in a period as short as a year.

Electric storage water heaters did not record any difference in the electricity consumption between units receiving softened or unsoftened water. However, the life of the heating element on the electric water heater receiving unsoftened water needed to be replaced more often due to a shorter lifespan.

Low flow showerheads and faucets using unsoftened water clogged in less than seven days of accelerated life testing, whereas those units using softened water made it through the test without any problems.

The dishwashers and clothes washers on either soft or unsoftened water made it through 30 days of accelerated scale testing, but the units on unsoftened water had noticeable scale buildup on all surfaces that had contact with unsoftened water.

The Detergent Savings Study
The laundry study investigated stain removal with varying levels of hardness, detergent dose, and temperature. Detergent usage was 50, 75 and 100% of the manufacturer's recommended level. Water hardness ranged from 0 to 513 ppm (30 grains/gallon). Wash temperature was 60, 80 and 100ºF. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the ability of softening water to mitigate the adverse effects of lower detergent dosage and lower wash temperature in turn decreasing costs and energy usage.

Detergent savings was also evaluated for dishwashers. The detergent savings study included tests for removing difficult soils in addition to the spot and film evaluation. The relationship between detergent dose and hardness was investigated with three non phosphate automatic dishwashing detergents with two consecutive wash-dry cycles for spot and film. One detergent was evaluated for five cycles to ensure that effects do not change with increased number of cycles.

Conclusions
The savings in detergent use and the energy required to heat the water is very high for each of the stains tested. Even when 50% of the detergent is used at a lower temperature of 60ºF instead of 100ºF, the washing yielded improved results when softened water was used as compared to when hard water was used. The study showed that one can use cold water and half the detergents for washing clothes stained with any or all of these stains and still achieve the soil removal desired, if the very hard water is softened prior to such use. This is the most significant conclusion of this study. Reduction of hardness is significantly more effective on stain removal than either increase in temperature or detergent dose.

Statistically significant improvements by softening water with hardness were observed in spotting and filming performance as well as in better soil removal in automatic dishwashing. Detergent savings up to 70% was observed for dishwashing when softened water was used compared to hard water. Depending on the soil, hardness reduction was found to be up to 12 times more effective at soil removal than increasing detergent dose.

What Are You Waiting For?
So, as you can see, there are some REAL tangible benefits to getting a water softener to take care of your hard water issues. Not only can it save you money by allowing your appliances to run more efficiently, but you can also save money on detergents, soaps, etc. So, now that you've seen the potential savings in black and white, what are you waiting for? Knowing the benefits of having a water softener at the Lake of the Ozarks you can feel more confident in your choice to purchase a Lindyspring System to treat your water in your home or your business. If you have any questions pertaining to water treatment at the Lake of the Ozarks or are interested in scheduling a time for us to come out to your home to determine which system would best fit your needs, contact Lindyspring Systems today!

For All Your Household Water Conditioning and Treatment Needs Count on LINDYSPRING!

Lindyspring Systems is the oldest independent water treatment company in the Lake of the Ozarks, dating back to 1970. We service Osage Beach and the entire Lake of the Ozarks area. As many of you know, we sell residential and commercial water treatment solutions for many different water problems. But did you know that we also RENT out water softeners?! We have tons of rental customers who LOVE being able to get soft water by taking advantage our rental program! So, why would you want to rent a water softener? Well, there are several reasons that renting is more convenient than buying for some folks. Take a look:


You Can't Afford the Upfront Cost of Buying
The biggest factor for people choosing to rent is the financial side. To most people, the one time upfront fee of purchasing a water softener is daunting and without the relevant knowledge of which to buy, many people can pay too much for the system. By renting, the stress of financing a softener is eradicated. When renting, you'll only worry about a one-time small installation fee, the low monthly rental fee, and the cost for salt!

You Are Renting or Don't Plan to Reside Long in Your Home
Renting is often considered a short-term solution to an individual’s hard water problems. If you are undecided about the length of your tenure in your current property, then renting may be the best solution for you. There is very low commitment associated with rental because when you decide to move, you don't have to worry about relocating your water softener. You can just contact your Lindyspring provider and they will remove the softener for you and even move and reinstall it for you in your new property if you wish to continue renting!

You Don't Have to Worry About Maintenance or Repairs
When you rent a water softener through Lindyspring Systems, any maintenance issues that arise is handled by us. So besides making sure you're maintaining the salt levels as recommended, you can leave the maintenance worries to us! What's even better, is that our rental clients are very important to us - so if an issue does arise, we provide same day or next day service to ensure your softener is functioning properly without hassle or little downtime.

So, if you've got hard water problems, but don't want to purchase a water softener, you've got options! At Lindyspring Systems, we can help make sure you get the size of unit that is exactly right for your needs as well as install it in the most professional manner possible. Our rental softeners are typically new or in like new condition, so you don't have to worry about getting an old worn out model from us! Contact us at 573-348-5044 to learn more about our water softener rental services at the Lake of the Ozarks!

For All Your Household & Commercial Water Conditioning and Treatment Needs Count on LINDYSPRING!

While Dave and Rose Kempker are the current owners/operators of Lindyspring Systems, they certainly aren't the first to find their place in the Lake of the Ozarks water treatment industry. Because of the choice of a very special person, we're able to continue providing excellent water treatment services to homeowners and businesses around the Lake area. We want to take this time to recognize someone very special and to congratulate Don Gainey on his upcoming retirement! So, without further ado, here's just a little about Don's history and plans for retirement.

In 1991, Don & Debbie Gainey purchased a water softener business under the name of Lindsey Water Softener. They operated the business under the name of Ecowater Lake of the Ozarks. In December 2014, they decided to retire from the water softener business. After diligently searching for a family business to sell to that would operate in a manner similar to them that could be entrusted to keep the business going, the Gainey's sold to Dave and Rosann Kempker.

For the last 32 years, Captain Don Gainey has been affiliated with the Osage Beach Fire Protection District in one way or another, starting off as a volunteer before becoming a career captain. Originally one of the nine full-time firefighters hired by the district in 1991, Captain Gainey had already served approximately six years as a volunteer firefighter and volunteer lieutenant after joining the ranks back on May 14, 1985, as a small resort owner at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Captain Don Gainey of B-Shift House #2 will officially retire in 2018 and complete his last 24-hour shift on December 29, 2017. At this time, Don hasn't set any plans in stone for his retirement. The first order of retirement will be to take a trip to Florida with his wife, Debbie, and to spend as much time with his family as possible. Don and Debbie also do industrial lighting and building/refurbishing of rustic furnishings as a side hobby. Debbie has a strong feeling that Don will dive more into this hobby once his retirement hits because "he isn't an idle man and loves to stay busy!"

We at Lindyspring Systems want to take a moment to recognize Don for not only dedicating 32 years of service to our community as a firefighter, but we also want to recognize him as a wonderful small business owner, who over the years has been a great asset to our community! Best of luck in your retirement, Don! As one chapter ends, another begins. Welcome to your new found freedom!

For All Your Household Water Conditioning and Treatment Needs Count on LINDYSPRING!